THE CABINET: More Charges

Carrying
over the head of the War Department the question of whether Governor
General Wood has malad-ministered the Philippines, the Filipino
Independence Mission (consisting of Manuel Roxas, Pedro Guevara and
Tsauro Gabaldon) went directly to Congress with a memorial denouncing
the administration of General Wood and asking freedom for the Islands.
The three signers of the memorial are, respectively, the Speaker of the insular House of Representatives and the two regular
representatives of the Islands at Washington, "Resident
Commissioners."

The allegations against General Wood were not
specific but consisted mainly of the following:

"Governor General Wood . . . has most decidedly taken a backward step by depriving our Government of
the key and the nerve-center of the former autonomous administration—
the counsel* of the Filipinos.

"He has surrounded himself with a secret cabinet composed of military
and other extra-legal advisers, which has encroached upon the
legitimate functions of the Filipino officials in the Government. . .
.

"He has placed himself over and above the laws passed by the
Philippine Legislature, laws that have never been declared null and
void by the courts or by the Congress of the United States. . . .

"He has abused the veto power, exercising it on the slightest
pretext on matters of purely local concern that did not affect the
sovereignty of the United States or its international obligations. .
. . He has disregarded the rights of the Senate in his exercise of
the appointing power.

"He has destroyed our budget system, the greatest achievement in
the financial administration of our Government. He has endeavored to
defeat the economic policies duly laid down by the Philippine
Legislature for the protection of the rights and interests of the
Filipino people in the development of the resources of the Islands. . .
.

"The recent incidents simply serve to bring home the compelling
need that the Philippine question be now settled once and for all. . .
. The time for Philippine independence has come. It can be postponed no
longer. Filipino welfare calls for it; Filipino ideals long for it, and the good name and pledged faith of America require it."

Some of the above charges need qualification, e.g.;

The Council of which General Wood
"deprived" the Philippines resigned, making at that time
practically the same charges as those of the present memorial;
General Wood told its members to their faces and almost thus bluntly:
"Your charges are lies" (TiME, July 30, Aug. 6).

On the same day on which the memorial was filed with Congress charging
that General Wood had "destroyed our budget system," the insular
Senate passed a general appropriation bill practically identical with
the budget presented by General Wood, except that it curtailed expenditures
of the Governor General's office and eliminated the
appropriation for operating the Governor's yacht, Apo. The insular
House had previously passed the same bill in slightly different form.